Namibians and the world today woke up to media reports and news that suspicious baggage, with a detonator and a ticking clock destined to be loaded on a German-bound plane was intercepted Wednesday at the Hosea Kutako International airport in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital city.
This is still a developing story, but I can’t fathom the thought of terrorists using Namibia. Apparently, being not obvious like any Middle Eastern or Muslim country, Namibia fits an ideal country profile likely to be used by terrorists: A sprawling nation on Africa’s South Atlantic Coast (bordered by South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Zambia), Namibia has a population of about 2 million people. The country is peaceful, it has a small airport with no visible police presence, and it attracts huge number of international tourists, especially Germans due to their colonial connection to the country.
Of course no connection has been made to the Namibian airport scare yet, but recent African and international intelligence reports suggest emboldened Al Qaeda affiliate activities in Africa, especially in East and North Africa, planning attacks and attracting new recruits. A group called Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which was recognized by Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 as an Al Qaeda affiliate, is believed to be behind the expansion of Al Qaeda in Africa.
According to Africa news, last month the Algerian intelligence revealed that Al Qaeda militants were shopping for arms in Africa (notably in Chad Republic) as well as investing in real estate by buying large tracts of land and villas in Niger, Mali and Mauritania. And then there was twin bomb blasts, blamed on another al-Qaeda affiliate, the Somali Islamist militia al-Shabab, in Uganda which killed scores of people in July of this year.
What does the increasing al Qaeda threat in Africa mean for the global war on terror? The simple answer: Avoid heavy-handed approaches. The tendency, especially by the US government, in the past has been counterterrorism tactics instituted largely through military programs such as the State Department’s East Africa Regional Strategic Initiative (EARSI) and the U.S. military’s Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), part of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). The unintended consequences of these programs are that they are contributing to some of the radical views towards the US on the continent…the notion that the US sees Africa only through a military or security lens.
